The Wedding Gift
by phantonlikegirl
Summary: Another Gaara story... but what if he were in our world?


Reikami was listening to music at her earphones, as she would usually do whenever she was pissed off by something. Why was she annoyed right now? Because her older sister was getting married, and the wedding was in about a month. That wasn't the source of her fury, however. Actually, Reikami wasn't annoyed in the real sense of the word and there was no way the reason was that of her sister's wedding, Aya.

It was the kind of stressing feeling hidden somewhere inside in her mind, because her sister had asked her to bring a partner along, for her wedding. And because the wedding was to be planned this time next month, poor Reikami had to find a partner quick.

Her mother wasn't pressing her about it. In fact, she even took her side in front of her sister, saying that it was a stupid idea to find her younger sister a boyfriend just now, as if Reikami hadn't had a heart or conscious of her own.

'You tell her, mom!' Reikami threw it in her sister's face this morning before Aya left furiously to her work.

'Honey, you know, Aya's right, too' her mother added, back then, after the young future bride had left. 'You're too a lonely girl for your age. You should go out more often.'

Reikami remained rather surprised after that reply. Afterwards she turned her frowning look and said:

'You too, Brutus?'

She threw her arms in the air and got back in her room, remaining there until the school bus came to pick her up. She didn't even say "sayonara". She got in it silently and pissed off.

That's why today, Reikami was nervous and had listened to music through her earphones, irritated and watching her girls around her with a sort of unexplained fury. The majority of the feminine beings were seen in the company of many boys, laughing and giggling around, playing sweet and Reikami refused to be like them.

'Why do I need a boyfriend?' she muttered, furiously, pressing her arms against her chest crossing them one on the other. 'I don't need such a thing!'

Afterwards, looking around, she noticed that many girls were included in groups with more or less boys. The main point was that she seemed to be the only one excluded from such a social group called friends.

The school-yard was filled with them and no one seemed to mind a girl whose frustrations and fears of actually socialize practically turned her into a shrew. Everybody around was having fun, in their own way. There were a couple of bullies who were picking on a dork, a few girls giggling and dreaming about the boys' football-team players, some other girls who were considered to be with the highest grades were discussing their usual school-newspaper's articles… some other boys were running and playing with each other like five-year-olds… yep… everyone was having fun… in their own way. Only she was the one standing alone and as a fact, she would have been easily taken as one of the school's freak-club member.

And now her sister was getting married and had told her – practically threatened her – that if she wasn't to find a boyfriend, or at least a partner, by the time Aya's wedding would come up… well, let's just say Reikami was about to get in trouble for that. Or at least scolded.

'Fuck…' she muttered hopelessly. 'Why me? Why now? Why today? Why this year?!'

She looked around, as a result, picking several boys with her eye. There was a blonde macho guy, but to her opinion only the looks were the best points, because his head wouldn't take him too far off his guard. The dorks were too… lousy. She wouldn't even dare touch one with the tip of her finger. They were the kind of guys who would lie stiff-frozen, in the presence of a girl, with any luck, even shaking just to give you a sign that they're still alive.

Then there was Kyo… ah, Kyo… now, there was a guy for whom thousands of ships would have launched. He was the reverie of this school. A pleasant sight which looked like a human angel. He was black-haired and tall and good looking… very good looking. And furthermore, he was in her class. Most of the girls dreamt about him. That was the only reason which kept Reikami from hitting on him. She wasn't looking for puppet-like guys, which everybody seemed to dream about or want. She just wanted a normal guy… ok, a weird guy, but a special one. Maybe a bit of cuteness… not too much, though… then, she would have started to become jealous.

There was one guy that seemed to fit her choice. He was standing – yep, all alone, like her – under a tall, old tree, leaning against its thick trunk, with his arms gathered at his chest, looking around himself ugly as if he wasn't at all approving with the world around him.

He was a red-head, with jade eyes, circled in thick black lines and he was weird enough to have a tattoo on his right part of the forehead. It was a Japanese hieroglyph which meant "love".

He didn't seem to be the type to look for such a thing.

Reikami had seen him once before, but not too many times. He was probably the type to skip one too many classes a week for anyone to notice his absence.

He seemed lonely too, as it appeared. There was something about his way of being and his physical presence, then, it sort of attracted her. But she wasn't going to aim for him. Who knows what might have been the deal with him and she wasn't prepared to deal with freaks right now.

'Ok, boyfriend, huh…?' she muttered again, turning her gaze away from the redhead, as she continued her search for the ideal partner with her eyes.

She suddenly stopped at another one. This guy looked weirder than the redhead and what was more… freaking out was that… he was watching her as well. His face didn't express anything and it was that kind of impassibility that made Reikami think she was dealing with a sociopath. His long arms were embracing his body and he seemed to look like a toad, however he wasn't unappealing.

He had a long, wavy dark-brown hair and when he got up form his seat, from a tiny bench, under a tree, and headed for her, he seemed to be too tall for her tastes. Still, she remained in her place, even though her gaze must have caused him the trouble of getting up on his feet and head towards her.

He stopped at a few steps away from her. He grinned… my lord, what a grin! It was as if someone had put ten prunes into his mouth and stuck them with super-glue. Ok, this guy was unattractive after all…

'You gotta smoke?' he asked with a voice which made her grab her own throat and choke to death. He seemed to have made smoke a habit too dependant to bear with.

'N-no, sorry…'

'Eh… I was just thinking. I saw you staring at all the boys in this school-yard… are yah lookin' for someone in particular?'

'N-no…'

'Yah seemed to do that. You su'e?'

'H-hai…' she muttered softly.

She wanted that guy to leave and even added an ignorant look on her face. That didn't seem to work on the guy though. He took a seat next to her on the bench and adopted a very odd and relaxing position, as he got out a cigarette from his back-pocket and put it in his mouth. On the other hand, he didn't light it up, so he could smoke properly.

'Hah… ten years I've been livin' in this stinkin' town an' nothin's going on… it's a one-way ticket to boredom, girlie! He, he! You really don't have a smoke?'

'N-no, gomen…'

'So, what's the deal, girlie? You fixin' a guy for yah, with those looks just earlier?'

'F-fixing a guy…?!' she mumbled incomprehensively.

'As in mate up, dude! Like duh…!' he sang stupidly. 'What's the catch? Your mom told yah you need carrying?'

'What?'

She was starting to get really annoyed. This morning, as everything in the past few days, went dead-wrong. She was frustrated and a bit hurt and now she had to deal with a straight-forward guy too. He wasn't even her type at all.

'C'mon, girl! It's a fuckin' simple question: you need a boyfriend or what?'

She sniffed and took a deep breath, while counting to ten in her mind. When she had reached eight, she heard him again, this time much more to himself:

'Yeah, I know how that feels…'

'What?' she mumbled again, this time rather confused.

'I know how that feels. Someone pressin' your guts out cause you need a boyfriend or a girlfriend…'

She sat down on the bench confused:

'You… you know that feeling?'

'Yeah, su'e!' he burst out, now pretty annoyed himself. 'Everyone thinks that you're the only idiot that's single and that you should find some mate quickly. Like it's the end of the world… huh!' he sniffed pissed off.

'And? Did you?'

'Sorry, I did!'

He grinned again and her head went down with a bluff:

'You've got to be joking me…'

'Eah, c'mon, you'll find someone soon enough! What's the time limit?'

'What?'

'The time limit, dude! A day? A week? A month?'

'A-a month…'

'Ha! You're lucky! I had to find a girl in less than a week-end.'

She calmed down immediately and started to gaze at him with curiosity. So, he had faced a similar situation to hers. He knew all that there was to know about it: time limitation, "find a girlfriend fast" thingie… yeah, he knew it all. From the content look on his face, he must have struggled hard in that week-end to find the right girl who would be his mate, soul-mate one too.

'How did you do it?' she asked matter-of-factly.

'Eah, it's strict business at first, y' know. You deal with the given situation like it's a mission or somethin'. Afterwards, if the thing works really good, than you start seeing each other for real. You know, like dates, dude!'

'I got that…' she mumbled ironically. 'But do you… _know_ who to pick?'

He stopped for a while to think. His temples showed her that he was thinking hard for a good answer. She muttered to herself that he was out of his mind to think that much over such an apparently simple question. Still, she was thankful enough that he was struggling to find a good answer. He smiled to her:

'You just know, I guess… you put your qualities first, I guess… and then you mix them up with how you'd like your ideal guy to look like. You get a pretty damned to hell combination, trust me!'

He sniffed amused.

She smiled, much more bored:

'You've got to be joking me…'

'I saw you were looking at that red-headed guy. He's in my class, y'know!'

'R-really?'

'Yeah, he is. His name's Gaara or somethin'… don't exactly had much to interfere with him. Unsocialized little punker, if ya get my poin'! he he!'

Reikami muttered something for herself again.

'He's a weirdo, ya know…' he added.

She lifted her gaze, with a hopeless look on her face:

'Is he the least bit normal?'

'Hm… yeah, I guess… he's normaller than me, if that's yar point!'

He grinned again.

He got up on his feet:

'Well, gotta go, chick! I've gotta get outta here and get my girlie to the movies. I promised her that. Hope ya find your guy, you seem desperate about it. Is that person really pushing you to the edge?'

'W-what person?' she garbled, as she turned her curious and also confused gaze upon him.

'The person who's been bragging you about getting' a boyfriend…'

'Oh… well, she's not insisting. But she does piss me off every time she gets the subject in…'

'Aha… well, c'est la vie, I guess. What's ya name, girlie?'

'R-Reikami…'

'Mine's Mugen. Nice to meet ya!' he grinned, this time his smile didn't look pretty bad, like it did the first time. He waved at her rascally and left her alone on her bench.

'Yep, I'm a gonner…' she muttered to herself exhausted.

When she came back from school-time, she was almost thinking of a new-fangled beginning for a new fight with her sister. Surprisingly, her mother had told her that Aya had left with her fiancé for some gifts for the wedding.

All that Reikami did that afternoon was to listen to her mp3 repeatedly at the song called "Acapulco" by an Italian music band. She liked the rhythm and also the message that the song was sending.

Suddenly, her mother opened the door of her room and announced her:

'Honey, you've got a friend at the door coming to pick you up'

Reikami woke from her bed slightly surprised:

'F-friend…?'

'Yeah, he said he wanted you guys to go for a walk'

"_He"?!?! Who's "He"?!_

She got out of her room, thanking her mother with a false routine for the fact that some "friend" had come to pick her up. She stopped at the entrance door and grabbed the handle to open it. She did that, with her heart beating to pop out.

Suddenly, she swiftly startled, as she recognized the tall guy from the school today. He was grinning again, like a guy who had prunes in his mouth:

'Hiya!'

Behind him, she saw the other guy, the redheaded one. He was watching the surroundings with a sort of unpleasantness, as if he didn't like where he was at this moment. She forgot to ask the proper "hi there, too! Why have you come?" She just bumped, as she usually did, in situations which seemed to be beyond her own reaction.

'What?!'

'Hiya!' the tall guy repeated. 'It's me, Mugen! I came for a visit. Actually, _we_ came for a visit.'

'It was your idea…' the redheaded guy in his back muttered.

'Yeah, sort of… well, we came to pick you up on a walk. You wanna?'

'Walk where?'

'I don't know! Anywhere, I guess. So, what's the catch-up? You want to or not?'

Reikami was about to refuse, due to the fact that she didn't even know the two weird guys and was about to excuse her gesture in front of her mother, as to tell her that these two "friends" had pissed her off yesterday and that she wasn't prepared to talk to them again. But as her look fell down on the street, she saw her sister holding her lover by the arm. Instantly, Reikami thought that the arrival of her sister might begin with another awful fight, so she burst out rushing inside the house:

'I'm coming in a minute! Just a sec!'

She rushed, picked her mp3 player, some cash and rushed through the door, bursting again:

'Bye, mom!'

'Have a nice-!'

Her mother didn't even finish her sentence, because her younger daughter slammed the entrance door the minute she got out of the house.

Mugen watched her rather surprised, as she was looking around, breathing fast because of her rush.

'Well, are we going? I'm ready!' she gave him an amusing grin, as she stood in front of him in a position of a soldier.

'Let's get going…' the redhead muttered indifferently and went ahead.

'Oh, sorry, Reikami!' Mugen smiled, as they followed the redheaded guy. 'This is Gaara, by the way. I told you about him yesterday, remember?'

'Y-yeah…'

Her eyes watched the redheaded boy with rather reluctance, as she answered.

'Gaara, this is Reikami. I met her yesterday, in school!'

Mugen threw his arm around her neck and dragged her near to him, as a gesture of tight friendship between them. Gaara turned his jade gaze upon them and as he watched them, they both grinned stupidly at the same time.

'Hn…' Gaara sniffed.

She didn't like that. Anyways, she turned her look towards Mugen:

'So, where are we going?'

'Dunno! I guess that if you pick a spot, that's where we'll follow. I practically had to drag Gaara out to come with me.'

'Oh, he's not an "outsider"… ' she mumbled rather ironically, so that the redhead could hear her. Still, he didn't do anything that could make her believe that her comment had offended him.

'I guess he ain't, if you wanna say it like that' Mugen smiled pleasantly.

Nobody said anything else after what the tall brunet had said. Suddenly, as she thought of a place nice enough to fit all of the three's tastes, Reikami burst out:

'You guys wanna go to a club or something?'

'Hm', Mugen thought. 'I don't think that'll be good for me. I got drunk last night'

He grinned again.

She turned to him curiously:

'Really? Man, I wanna get drunk too! Everyone talks of this thing, like it's the best thing in between teenagers.'

'Hm, I don't think I can agree on that. Getting' drunk has to do something with you, a major problem and no solution attached to it. You know, the stuff with "I wanna get drunk so I can forget"…'

'Then you've got to have loads of problems, Mugen!' she smiled.

He looked at her a bit surprised. Afterwards, he added:

'N-no… yeah, ok, on that you're right and you're not. And if you're suggesting that getting drunk isn't about forgetting problems, then you're right on that too.'

'Tell me about it!' she cried. 'If you'd face my problems, then I would be constantly drunk!'

They both started to laugh and Gaara turned to look at her. At one point, their gazes met and Reikami swiftly stopped, as she saw his frowning stare upon her, as if he hadn't agreed to what she was saying.

She suddenly saw that he had a weird look. The thick black lines around his eyes intensified the ugly look he usually would give to people around him. And he had no eye-brows… weird looking guy. She liked that!

Still, she wasn't sure that their current relationship would go so far as to ask him to be her partner at her sister's wedding.

'So, how's it going?' Mugen asked, all of a sudden, forcing her to forget about possible future plans with Gaara, as she turned her gaze upon the brunet.

'Going what?'

'You know… the boyfriend stuff… actually the partner stuff!'

Mugen grinned. She sniffed bored:

'Not very well. Haven't found anybody yet. Actually I didn't even search. Are you sure you can't deal with it?'

She smiled innocently, suggesting something. Mugen smiled, but this time guiltily:

'Sorry… if I recall your situation, this partner thing requires a certain thing and that is "partner, as in lover". I can't exactly do that to my girl. She'd piss off, even if it would be strictly business.'

'Oh, I see…' she muttered thoughtfully. 'Well, then, if that's the case, I'm sorry for suggesting.' She added sincerely.

'No problem. But why don't you ask Gaara?' he whispered in her ear. 'If you promise him some cash, he could even bring you the moon from the sky for that.'

She looked at Mugen. His smile suggested that the reason why he had brought Gaara in the first place was to bring a solution to her problem. Yes, a paid off fake boyfriend… that must have worked. She suddenly copied his shrewd smile and added softly, whispering:

'Are you sure he's gonna accept?'

'It depends on the sum of money, you know… but he's pretty good at it. There were other girls who had a problem like this and they called for him. He's already at hand with this kind of situation.'

Mugen smiled sincerely and Reikami watched the redhead thoughtfully. Her eyes looked down afterwards and when she lifted them up again, she saw that Gaara was watching her this time.

'He's kinda creepy…' she muttered softly.

'Hey, you need a boyfriend for your sister's wedding, don't you?'

'Y-yeah, still…'

As she watched him, how his gaze was set upon her with the kind of look which meant unorthodox intentions, she thought: "_he really is scary"_

'C-could you talk to him?' she asked Mugen politely.

'So, you agree?'

'Yeah, like would have a choice. Go talk to him, while I'll wait for you on this bench.'

'Ok'

Mugen went to meet his friend in four eyes, while she sat on a bench, at the border of the road. She was thinking whether agreeing to this kind of solution was wise or not. The redhead had something which quite frightened her and the fact that she hardly knew him wasn't exactly to her comfort. On the other hand, her sister's pressure set upon her brain was too much to bare. Aya would have never forgiven her for disrespecting her request. Yes, they were sisters. But Aya had the misfortune of inheriting their father's hard stubbornness, so putting yourself against her was like fighting an impossibly indestructible iron wall. She would have never changed her mind about leaving her sister without a partner, nor would she have bared the thought of seeing her sister going all against her request. Their mother wouldn't at all interfere. She was the only woman to have truly faced the power of that damn stubbornness of their father. Apparently, the only solution to this situation was to find a quick boyfriend and immediately make him come to the wedding, in exchange for a certain sum of money (Gaara's availability), or find a boyfriend in a month, with the risk of being too late, fall in love one with each other and head back to the wedding business.

A month… it was a too short a time to fall in love. Reikami knew she had high expectancies when it came to men and choosing the right one to be with. So the only solution left in this case was to pick an ordinary guy with a normal personality and pay him to be her partner and probably her boyfriend, until the ending of this business with her sister's wedding.

On the other hand, Gaara, even though he was available and so quickly acquired, didn't seem like the kind of person to have a normal personality. From his appearance, he didn't seem to fit her sister's expectations. Then again, if Aya would have asked for a better boyfriend, Reikami would have certainly thrown it in her face that she doesn't like normal boys. Right…?

It was a stupid situation; it hadn't even had a normal solution. And what was more stupid than anything was that she was forced to do things she hated doing, which meant that this might not work so well. She sniffed bored:

'Oh, brother… I'm a gonner…'

Suddenly, she saw Gaara standing to face her, as Mugen talked to him. He was watching her with scowled eyes, which constantly made her think that she was doing a bad thing.

"_I have no choice, apparently…" _

Swiftly, Gaara came to her, when Mugen had done talking to him. He held his hands crossed at his chest, as he stopped in front of her.

She watched him rather frightened.

'_Is he not going to accept?_ _Ah, and I was thinking of facing almost a month without my daily pocket money, since everything will be going to his own pockets… I'll beat the shit outta him if he doesn't…'_

'What's the sum?' he asked.

She startled awkwardly, as she again asked the question which sort of became a habit to her:

'What?!'

'How much are you willing to pay for what I do?'

'_You're not doing anything yet, you dumb bastard!'_

'Um, I dunno…' she answered apprehensively. 'H-how much would you ask?'

'I think we can all agree to 100$ or something!' Mugen burst out without hesitation.

Gaara didn't say anything, nor did he make a move as to disapprove. Reikami seemed to be relieved, since she smiled – forced, but pleased. As such, they both agreed on that, without the common shaking-hands stuff. Anyways, Reikami hated men touching her.

Her father used to do that when she was younger and it wasn't at all pleasant. In fact, every woman in her family seemed to lack of physical communication, thanks to her father. Only Aya seemed to have passed that rather eerie convention, since she was letting her fiancé touch her.

Every time Reikami saw them, they would kiss or hug, which meant to her that love must really change people, since it made Aya let a man finally touch her. She often wondered what was like to love someone.

This wasn't the case, though.

She came back to watching the others. She remembered now, related to the fact that she didn't want to be touched, that Mugen had taken her by the neck, when she met Gaara. She hadn't mind at all. Perhaps she was changing too.

Or at least, in front of some people. As she watched Gaara depart from the bench where she was sitting, she felt that she had just made a deal with the devil. It was her sentence.

'Ok, now everything's settled!'

Mugen seemed to be the only one pleased about everything, as if he had been the one with the idea and had been the one to fight the most for this business. As she thought better, Reikami agreed that part of that was true: Mugen was the one who had found her a "boyfriend". Even a paid one.

'You guys should start knowing each other, then, right?'

Mugen watched, as they were in separate directions.

Gaara turned and watched her impassibly:

'What's the deal, then?'

Reikami took a deep breath and took a much more official position on the bench, as she started to explain:

'Well, the thing is quite simple: my sister's getting married; she asked me to bring on a partner – which I think she also refers to the fact that this partner should be more than just a simple date – and to come with him at her wedding. You most likely think this is stupid, but if you'd knew my sister, you'd probably agree to the fact that she's no one to deal with when it comes to disapproving with her requests. As such, listen now and listen good because I'm not going to repeat myself: my name is Nada Reikami, I'm 15 years old, I have an older sister called Aya and I only live with her and my mother. I don't have any pets, I love dogs, music and I hate the fact that I'm going to weddings. I much prefer funerals and I don't own a computer. I'm a good high-school girl and I know how to drive a car since I was 10. Are you keeping up?'

'Hn' he sniffed.

'Right…' she muttered. 'I don't like this kind of situations where you're supposed to force me to do something and I hate my sister for the fact that she's doing this right now. Also, I don't have any friends, I always spend my time alone and I don't care what other people say about me. Also, I hate being touched by… certain men, especially my dad, I sleep alone, I deal with things alone and I don't pretty much like it when you interfere with my business. Besides, I hate nicknames and I never get out without my mp3 player.'

She took a deep breath:

'That's about it. At least, the essentials. I hope you booked that all up cause one thing I hate again is repeating myself. You better stand up to my standards, since I'll be starving for the next two months, because I have to pay you in addition, 100 bucks.'

Gaara had all but stood frozen and impassible, all this time. You might have easily thought that he became shocked by how many things he had to remember. But the expression on his face, which was indeed untouchable, told Reikami that his memory had worked perfectly on this and he had remembered everything.

'Hn' he sniffed again. 'I guess I'll be coming more often to your house, right?'

'Only if you want to. Mom knows that even if I'd have a relationship with a boy, I wouldn't bring him at home. If you want to come, you're not getting any bonus, with the cash because I didn't ask you to come. It's your choice.'

'Are you really that odd?' Mugen burst out asking curiously.

'No, not really. It's just that it's not necessary for the other people in my house to know whether I'm committed or not to anyone.'

Reikami decided that this situation was pissing her off so she was determined to lack of indulgence. She was going to spit out loud and clear and with less fright than before. After all, the evil was already done.

'Right' Mugen muttered. 'Well, then, all's well, right?'

He was more like watching his friend, since everything that that girl said was rather out of the ordinary. She wasn't as all like the other girls. Which is why he startled faintly frightened when he saw the look on Gaara's face. The redhead had never smiled before. Mugen had never seen him doing that before. Not even now that smirk wasn't exactly showing a perfect smile, but Mugen could swear it was all about that kind of face.

'Alright…' Gaara finally said something. 'You got me into it now.'

'I hope you're not getting it back tomorrow' she added, slightly arrogantly and set her arms to gather at her chest as a gesture of feminine indignation.

'No, I'm not…'

He watched her intensely. Something about his gaze sort of scared her, since Reikami let her arms down. He was defying her with that sort of eyes. And she wasn't about to become some kind of slave to his gaze for that matter. So, what she did in that instant was to look even more frowningly to him, as to transmit a sort of message such as "you're not frightening me. You're not fooling anyone".

Gaara turned his face into the usually impassible one. He was now facing a creature which to much his opinion wasn't like any of the others he had helped, in exchange for money. She was shorter than him, with shrewd-like eyes, like a fox. Her hair was ruffled and plain brown, but her total appearance reminded him of that of a fox's. He saw in her gestures before a sort of politeness mixed with arrogance. She was odd, as Mugen said she was. She didn't like being touched by men? Then, how would she be expecting everything like this to work, since she won't let him touch her? That was a question which he would answer in the future, since he had already agreed to this situation. She was an awkward person. He might just enjoy a bit from this "mission".

'Right then,' he heard her mutter and she let her head down, as if she had become an obedient child. 'I'm going home now, I promised mom I'd help her with a few things. We'll settle things later on, then. See you, Mugen!'

'Bye!' he heard his friend, while watching him wave to her joyfully. She didn't tell him goodbye, when he was supposed to be her "official boyfriend". The fact that she didn't say goodbye, meant that she was about to deal with this thing professionally… and _strictly_ professionally. Which meant that if he were to start liking her, he'd have a lot of hard work to do, before making her liking him back.

He sniffed and secretly smiled.

The next day, Reikami took a bath late in the morning, just to get away again from her sister, which her mind had already accepted witha totally different name: Bridezilla.

Yesterday afternoon, they had a perfectly quiet time, since she knew best the ways Aya would torture you to death with her requests. This day, she knew that she had to stay away from her, since Aya was programming torepeatedly annoy her with the same questions and commentaries as usual. The "interrogation" was every two days, so today was one of those days.

She didn't want to start with the morning's moments so, after a brief breakfast, she agreed that she would shoot two rabbits at the same time, by taking a bath and getting away from her sister.

It was 11 and 56 minutes, or so. Outside was a sunny day and luckily her sister had to go to work, afterwards meet with her future husband so she would return late at home.

Aya did follow her to the bathroom and stabbed her in the back a few times, but she had to go after 10 minutes sharp.

Reikami's bath wasn't totally ruined.

She could hear her mother working around the house and cleaning it out. When she came out, 15 minutes later, after cleaning the bathroom, she swiftly returned to her room, humming a nice song, which she liked. It was called "best days", sung by an American singer. She made it play on the mp3 player 5 times, by the time her mother knocked at added:

'Honey?'

She took out one of her earphones:

'Yeah, mom?'

'Are you properly dressed? There's someone here to see you?'

She put her towel back on, around her naked and freshly washed body, as she again thought boringly about Mugen.

'Is it a guy?' she asked, checking things up.

'Yes, it is!'

She sniffed sarcastically, when she heard her mother's answer.

_Is he not going to give me a break on something like that?_

Suddenly, she startled frightened when she heard other knocks at her door.

She was about to say "mom" again, then the voice sounded of a male's:

'I don't usually like to wait. I'm coming in!'

'W-wait…! N-no!'

The door was opened and in came a male, indeed. She thought it was Mugen, so she raised her head from behind the opened door of her wardrobe, bursting out furiously:

'Mugen, really, you are too…!'

She stopped mutely. It wasn't Mugen. It was Gaara. He had taken his usual position, with his arms at his chest.

'Y-you!' she burst out rather frightened. 'What are you doing here?!'

'I thought I'd pay you a visit. Knowing where my official girlfriend lives is something I also have to deal with.'

'The question was also available for the fact that you're in my room!' she gnashed her teeth furiously.

'Your mother told me I was allowed to look you up in here. '

He took a seat on an armchair:

'I'll wait for you.'

She sniffed furiously:

'Get out now! I'm half naked, you imbecile! You're supposed to be my boyfriend, not a perverted freak! W-wait for me outside!'

'I hate moving from one place to another.'

He didn't even smile. His face wasn't suggesting anything. It was damn annoying since she couldn't figure out whether he was serious about staying here, awkwardly intending or just absent-minded by the fact that he was alone in a girl's room, with the girl herself half naked in front of him.

He was just staring at her with those defying eyes.

She was so furious that if she hadn't had a towel around her body, but clothes, she would have come out and kick his ass pretty good.

'You really don't know good manners, do you?' she growled.

'I knocked. And that was already too much for me.'

His answers were precise and almost like planned for any question she would ask. She was about to blow into bits of anger. She turned red in her cheeks, burning of rage.

'At least, give me some damn clothes and don't you dare peek, you hear me?!'

He sniffed:

'Hn'

Seeing that he didn't do what he was told, she tried to stretch her arm and grab the t-shirt that was resting on the chair in front of her wardrobe.

She firmly held the towel at her chest and it was for the best because her stretching made the wardrobe's door squeaked away from covering her. She was now lying in front of him, half covered by her towel. The intense red in her cheeks almost took the color of his hair this time. She had never appeared like this in front of someone, especially a boy.

Her body stopped moving, to her mind's despair. Suddenly, she saw him rise from his place and grabbing the t-shirt which he then stretched it to her. She swiftly grabbed it, pulled back the door to its original position and changed rapidly.

Afterwards she came out. She wasn't entirely decent, but at least the t-shirt was long enough to cover everything that needed to be covered.

'Right' she breathed relieved. Afterwards, she turned her ugly gaze to him:

'You didn't hear anything I said yesterday, did you? I thought I included the part where I hate people meddling in with my stuff! And how did you remember where I lived?'

He was about to open his mouth, but she stopped him with a wave from her hand, as she threw herself on her bed, muttering bored:

'Never mind! I don't want to know…'

She threw him an intensely shrewd-like look:

'I hope you're keeping in mind that visiting my house is not included as a bonus. I'm strictly paying you 100 bucks, as promised. Nothing more, nothing less.'

He again didn't say anything, nor did anything.

She sniffed with resentment:

'Are you really this quiet all the time? You should learn from now on that as long as you sort of work for me, you're going to open your mouth once in a while, cause I'm not going to do all the talking.'

'Hn' he sniffed.

She grinned forcedly:

'You're gonna have to do better than "hn", from my part! I'm not sparing you at all, so don't expect indulgence. Those 100 bucks include ability to conversation and a little bit more politeness regarding your girlfriend, when she's in an indecent position. Which means, next time you enter my room, while I'm still half naked, I'll be punching your face without hesitation and I'll just blame it on the fact that you're rather clumsy sometimes.'

She could swear that he was smiling, even though it was just a plain smirk.

'I'm not joking' she added. 'Now, may I ask what's the sudden cock-crow visit? It's still early.'

'I already said my reason. I also hate repeating myself.'

His constant seriousness and impassibility was pissing her off with every inch. She thought that she might not resist till the end of it.

'Did you tell mom anything?' she asked, trying to count in her mind to ten, to ease her anger.

'Only that I wanted to see you. The rest is what she likes to think.'

She grinned:

'Politeness, please. Your sentences lack of that.'

'I'm not at your disposal. I shall speak as I please. Your 100 bucks can be found somewhere else' he answered coldly and intensified his defying gaze with the sort of unorthodox eyes.

She startled unpleasantly by his answer. One thing she had again learn from facing a man like her father was that she hated when people were up their nose with her or turning her words against her or even forcing her to face the situation she was put in, as if reminding her every five minutes how stupid she was. Her fury was at its edge with this. Still, she kept calm and got up on her feet:

'Right, then… you like twisting knives into people's open wounds, do you? It's not gonna work on me. You can forget about everything, then. There's the door, you know your way out. I didn't like you anyway!'

She sniffed almost disgusted and turned her back against him, to face her wardrobe. She began to pretend she looked for some clothes to wear.

He waited for a few minutes until he asked:

'Are you sure about this?'

His cold question strengthened her decision not to turn back. She wasn't even the type to turn back on whatever she had said. As she considered that "the evil" was already done, she also believed that the past cannot be returned even with a few seconds, so it was all in vain to try and take back your own words.

'I'm not holding back, if that's what you think' she also tried to make her voice sound distant. 'Like I said, the door is just on your right.'

She didn't even turn to face him, when she said that.

He let his head down, still looking at her. He sniffed with his usual "hn" and then sat back on the armchair adding:

'How did we meet?'

She stopped searching for her clothes, as if she understood what his intentions were in the end: he had given up perhaps. She didn't want to show him that she had figured that out, though. She pretended that she was absent-minded at that part of their conversation. She turned her face slightly to the right, to make him notice her attentive stare:

'Hm… I don't exactly recall thinking about that… have you any idea?'

She turned and her twist was elegant and rather defying him. He sensed that and slightly watched frowningly:

'No, I haven't.'

'Aha! Well, two heads are better than one, maybe we'll think of something. Right now, I need to get something put on, cause mom asked me to pick some bread when I come out. I'll leave you with the thinking.'

She grinned childishly, but forcedly.

'Could you, at least wait for me and not follow me to the bathroom, so I could change properly?' she added and without waiting for what he had to say, she grabbed some jeans and a few other stuff, with which she got out of her room and headed for the bathroom.

'Honey, is everything alright in there?' her mother stopped her in her way to the bathroom.

'Yeah, mom, it's ok. He's, a… someone I'm dating.'

She knew perfectly what her words meant. Not wanting to know her mother's reaction at the sudden confession her daughter had made, she practically ran to the bathroom and slammed the door behind her, breathing relieved when leaning against it.

'Oh, brother… I'm a gonner…'

She only came out after 15 minutes and even when she did that, as she opened the door she summarily startled visibly, facing Gaara's impassible face again. He was in his usual position, but with a much more frowning look on his face:

'I don't like to be kept waiting, you know…'

'Heavens, could you stop bumping into me like when I'm in my personal moments?' she cried out with her heart still beating hard. 'And I could care less of your weird habits. I've got my own to think of rather than someone else's. Right' she muttered, as she closed the bathroom door and turned to descend the stairs and bump to her mom:

'Ok, mom, I'm ready to go out! You wanted me to buy you something?'

He watched her as he saw that she was acting as if ignoring him. He felt that she was the only type of girl that wasn't at all typical as the others. She wasn't even charmingly attractive. However, she had something which was striking, as he saw her moving around the house to look for her mother's purse: she seemed to have an interesting personality.

'Ok, I'm ready to go!' she burst out joyfully and gave him a demanding gaze. He descended the stairs quietly and slowly. It struck her that he was doing that only so her mother would take a closer look at what kind of guy her daughter was dating. A defying act itself, as it appeared to Reikami, since she figured that right away. She got annoyed again, but she knew that she wasn't supposed to do a scene just here, so she pretended dumb.

She let him be the first to get out, afterwards closed the door behind her, saying:

'Bye, mom!'

'Bye, honey!' her mother was heard.

She stopped at the door-frame to watch him with despite. She hated him. She simply hated him.

He stopped, as he saw that she wasn't walking any more:

'Are you coming?'

'You know' she started, sniffing irritated, 'you don't have to pretend that you're still with me, when my mom or my sister isn't around. You could spare us both of each other's presence in that point. Coming with me to places in lack of my family's stares isn't something to cut the price in half or something.'

She snuffled with indignity and turned to leave. Suddenly, she returned with a defying look on her face:

'And where I'm going is not even in that direction!'

After that she came back to her right and started to walk along the street. She had walked 10 minutes and faces a lot of stores where she could find food, but she chose the bakery shop, because the seller was a nice old man, who knew her. Suddenly, as she opened the door and the bell rang to announce a new customer, she tried to close the door behind her, but a foot stopped it. She looked at the person and saw that it was Gaara. She turned her look frowningly:

'Are you stalking me now?'

'I'm merely trying to accompany you. Didn't you say I was supposed to be polite?'

She sniffed again and turned to face the nice old man with a beautiful smile:

'Hello there, Mr. Yamato! How are you today?'

'Oh, hello, Reikami, I'm fine, thank you for asking. What will it be?'

'A white bread, thank you.'

She left the money on the table, as she usually did and headed for the shelf with breads on the other side of the store's counter.

The old man returned on fixing up some cookies inside a fridge, while asking:

'How's your mother?'

'Oh, she's fine, she's perfectly fine…'

Here she went again, ignoring him. Gaara felt that she was doing this on purpose. Then again, she had said that he didn't have to accompany her everywhere she went, since his "duty" was only to play boyfriend in front of her family. Nevertheless, something kept him still in that store, just to watch her and observe – out of any other idea – certain things about her. She wasn't too skinny but she wasn't at all fat. Her body had a rounder form, that was all. In fact, the parts that were usually supposed to be round at a girl, were actually attractively coming out. She had a normal color of brown at her hair, ruffled and rebel and you could easily read independence, a bit arrogance and shrewdness into her fox-like eyes. She wasn't astonishingly beautiful, but she was indeed pretty. Then again, she had, above all, an interesting personality.

As she tried to lift herself on the tip of her toes, she tried to grab some bread, but it only required a few more inches. She turned to him:

'Could you…?'

So, she could always be shy, apart from being arrogant and somewhat ignorant. He sniffed bored, went to her and grabbed the bread which he afterwards gave to her.

She said a shy "thank you" and afterwards, went to the door, adding:

'Thank you, Mr. Yamato!'

She didn't even call him back, to tell him that they were leaving. So, indeed she was trying to ignore him.

He couldn't understand why. All of a sudden, he found himself questioning her acts, if _he_ was the one who needed her for his difficult situation and not the other way around. Still, he followed her outside, asking somewhat commonly:

'Where to now?'

She took a deep breath:

'Nothing much. I'll just have to get this back. Mom needs it.'

Suddenly, she saw a group of girls, with the boy that she had found three days ago to be a perfect match for a fake boyfriend: Kyo, her classmate.

She suddenly felt stupid with a guy like Gaara in her back, while the cutest guy in high school was just passing by.

Gaara noticed her rather worried look when that group of girls and one boy appeared. He also recognized the tall black-haired guy as being a bit younger than him, but the kind of male who was superstitious, naïve and predictable, and bared the name of Kyo Mushi.

From his point of view, this guy was a total idiot. On the other hand, Reikami, next to him, seemed to have certain feelings for him, since she let her head down, when the groups passed them by, without Kyo even noticing her. When they were out of hearing anything they had to say, Gaara went back to staring at her. This time, he seemed pensive.

She noticed his new face and muttered:

'No, I don't have any feelings for him. I just lack the fact that I once was about to ask him as my partner, before Mugen came up with his idea of me hiring you. That's all, so you can go back to your usual impassive self again'

He continuously watched her thoughtfully. She tightened her fist with annoyance.

'Will you stop staring?!' she burst out angrily in the end. 'It's not polite to stare at people, without addressing them the slightest word…!'

'Reikami!'

She startled unpleasantly, as she recognized her sister's voice. She had come out from a clothes' store. She was alone apparently, since she wasn't followed by a blonde good-looking man who was supposed to be her lover.

Gaara also looked at the woman that was approaching them with haste. She was beautiful and also bared the features of a fox. She was black-haired, with a pair of green bright eyes, and she mostly looked like her father, since Gaara couldn't remember anything from Reikami's mother to resemble that of the woman's in front of them now.

Aya put her hands at her chest, bursting out more like unpleasantly surprised:

'I thought you said you were going to help mother with picking her dresses and your own. Did you lie, Nada Reikami?'

'Don't mock me on it, Aya' Reikami cried out annoyed. 'I'm having a bad day, as such, so don't mock me!'

'If I as such as find you without any dress, not even one picked up, you're getting it good, do you hear me?! You're such a lazy sister! You should listen to me once in a while; I'm saying this only to teach you to learn from your mistakes!'

She stopped her preaching, as she finally noticed Gaara's presence. The look on her face told her younger sister that she didn't at all agree to how this boy looked like.

'And who is he, may I ask?' Aya bumped, putting her hands against her hips, as a gesture of feminine indignation.

'He's…'

"_Oh, brother, somebody shoot me!!!"_

'He's…'

'I'm her boyfriend.'

Gaara had answered, as he usually did: sharp and precise. Reikami wasn't aiming for that quite answer. As she knew her sister, if you would do something she had asked you to, but you didn't exactly do it right, as to her total pleasantness, you were supposed to take her bit by bit and not so abruptly. Gaara did the exact opposite thing and it was bound to make things worse.

She slapped her forehead for that matter, as her sister continued on watching the boy this time shocked.

Gaara tried to grab Reikami's hand. He couldn't grab it, since she figured out what he was doing and kept it away from him. As a result, he suddenly grabbed her waist with one arm and instantly he felt her struggling to push his hand away. He tightened his grip and waited for a reaction from the woman in front of them.

Reikami gave up on fighting away his arm, when her sister finally opened her mouth to say something:

'W-well, that's… s-something…'

She looked at her sister, demandingly:

'Is this serious?'

'I …'

'Yeah, it's very serious' Gaara once more answered, somewhat softer than usual.

His tone of voice, uncharacteristic for how she knew him up until now, made Reikami slightly turn her look upon him and watch his eyes rather enquiring.

Still, his sentence, even with its assuring tone, could not convince Aya, since she gathered her arms at her chest and sharpened her gaze, as she stared at her younger sister accusingly:

'Is this true, Reikami? Are you really with someone or is he someone you just picked so you could fool me? You know I notice these things, don't you?'

Gaara startled but was perfectly professional when it came to hiding any kind of emotion. Still, he felt that the body which he held in his arms belonged to a girl who, even though had an independence of her own, she still had to deal with certain things which made her feel small and insignificant. Like her older sister, for example.

That's why he thought he should give her a long kiss, just so he could convince the woman in front of them. Then again, he also remembered that Reikami might not like his too intimate gesture. So, all he did was just drag her closely to him and kiss her tenderly on the temple, saying:

'It's for real.'

His sudden rather delicate and intimate gesture, filled with tenderness seemed to have finally worked on her sister, for Aya turned her face surprised again. In the end, she smiled:

'I see… well, that's good news, then, Reikami-chan!'

She startled: whenever her sister would add "chan" at the end of her name, it meant that Aya was pleased with her. And from the sincere smile on her sister's face, it seemed that Aya was very pleased.

Aya grabbed her bag which she had put down and added to Gaara:

'I hope you'll be joining us for dinner some time, before my wedding. We have to… hm, talk, you know… my sister rarely brings out males in our house, you know. Alright then, nice to me you, um…?'

Her look told Reikami that she demanded the boy's name.

'Gaara. His name's Gaara' Reikami answered quickly.

'Gaara… 'Her sister added and then swiftly circled them and continued her way, as she said:

'I'll see you at home, Reikami-chan!'

She had finally left their sight of hearing what they had to say. Reikami pushed his arm away with a rather unpleasant feeling, as she said softly:

'Don't touch me like that for too longer time. I agreed to myself that I'd let you do that once in a while in front of my family, but don't think I'll be letting you do that constantly. Like I said, I dislike certain men's touching.'

Gaara sensed that the meeting with her sister made her quite uncomfortable and probably a bit vulnerable.

She stopped from continuing her road and added:

'Don't kiss me so often either. I hate that too.'

She stopped again:

'And, please, leave. You've done enough for today already. I'll pay your advance tomorrow, I promise. Right now, I just wanna be alone.'

She sniffed bored and also relieved, like some sort of burden had hung from her neck and now it was finally taken off.

She continued her way home, so she could help her mom with whatever she had promised she would.

Gaara stood still and watched her until she disappeared at the corner of the street. He definitely had never faced a girl more complex and weird as she was…

She didn't see her sister's face last night because she went to bed early, after repeatedly listening at her mp3 player to the song "Dancing n the dark" by another American singer. She was just having breakfast, when her sister popped out of the bathroom, all freshened up for the meeting she had with her future husband.

When Aya saw her sister, she gazed at her secretly, with a smile and she sat down in front of her, to enjoy her breakfast:

'Good morning, mom!'

''Morning, honey'

'Good morning, Reikami-chan…'

Reikami sensed her sister's teasing tone, but pretended to be dumb:

'Morning, Aya!'

'How are you today?' Aya asked, pretending to make a simple conversation.

'Nothing better than how I felt yesterday.'

'It's Saturday. Are you planning on doing something today with… um, your boyfriend?'

She was grinning somewhat meanly. Still, it had no effect on her younger sister, since Reikami answered like bored:

'I don't know. I guess my usual with…'

_Ding dong!_ The door was heard loud, at approximately 10 am. Their mother surprisingly went to the door, curiously to see who it was.

'I wonder who could it...?' Aya started, but their mother came back into the kitchen announcing:

'Reikami, honey, your friend is here again.'

The woman smiled gently, as she invited Gaara to come inside the kitchen. Their mother looked at Reikami:

'Honey, do bring him some breakfast, it's still early.'

Rather surprised by his sudden appearance, the girl got up and picked other two fried eggs from the frying pen and put them on a plate, as Gaara took her seat instead.

Her sister watched him surprised. Their mother woke her up by touching her shoulder:

'Darling, you'll be late for work, you know'

'Oh, r-right…' Aya burst out, as she got up and added sweetly:

'Hello, Gaara-kun'

'Hi.'

He didn't even look at her. Apparently, Reikami's job to prepare a plate for him was the thing which most attracted his attention.

Circling the void with an exhausted look, Aya gave a swift "goodbye", as she got out of the kitchen. Their mother also greeted Gaara politely, with one swung from her head. The boy answered back, the same way, respectfully, and so, he and Reikami were left alone in the kitchen.

She put the plate in front of him and then sat in front of him, on her sister's ex-seat.

'May I ask what's with this sudden visit?' she asked harshly. 'Are you in such an urge for money already?'

He didn't smile to her. He didn't show her any kind of face. He just fixed the fork – quite violently – into a slice of tomato and lifted it up, as he answered:

'I thought we should spend the Saturday together.'

'Oh, really?' she muttered matter-of-factly. 'Let me guess: you want to include it as a bonus or something?'

She saw that, even though his face wasn't suggesting any emotion, he seemed staid about this.

'A-are you serious?' she asked somewhat confused.

He gave her again a frowningly ugly look:

'I never joke about anything.'

'And how are we supposed to spend the Saturday together then, huh?' she asked, untouched by his ugly stare.

'We could go in your room and you can tell me more about yourself.'

'I already told you what I had to. That's already enough.'

'It's not, from my part.'

His last answer was sharp and precise, as usual, and it gave her the sudden feeling that he was the kind of guy who would firmly hold to his dignity as a male. What's more, that he didn't like being disobeyed.

She backed up on her chair:

'You're really serious about everything, aren't you?'

He stood frozenly quiet. She frowned her eyes:

'Fine… I'll go talk to mom that I'm not going out anywhere today… but I still have to look for a dress, you know. The wedding's in approximately two and a half weeks, I hope you're well aware of that.'

'I am' he mumbled coldly.

She imitated him quietly as she turned to open the kitchen door and announce her mother about her plans.

Her mother had agreed to anything she had to say. She was the kind of woman who had been through too many problems just not to concur to certain things. Furthermore, she believed in her daughters' judgment.

Consequently, Reikami found herself alone, in her room with Gaara.

She hadn't said much to him about herself. She had only let him study every part of her room, which wasn't exactly that of a girl's. She had posters with demons and other weird drawings on the wall, black bed sheets and the only thing that could give you a scent that a girl lived here was the nice smell of a wild-flowers' perfume.

A lot of small wooden boxes, beautifully carved were resting on some shelves. As she told him, they were filled with other girl-stuff like make up – which she rarely used – things she used to keep when she was a kid, and another box with her dolls.

At one point, he saw a single wooden box on one of her small tables, near her bed. It was black and its solitude seemed to attract more attention than the others.

As Reikami backed up in the kitchen to bring some snacks, he had remained alone in her room, so he permitted himself to take the box and open it.

It was a pictures' box. All her memories must have been kept there. There was also a small leather-like notebook, which seemed to be a diary. He wasn't going that far as to read it, still he went looking through the pictures.

10 minutes later, Reikami returned into her room, and stumbled upon a pail of photos which Gaara had taken out from the box. He was now studying a picture of Reikami when she was 5 years old. She seemed to smile happily and sat on a bench, in the woods.

She sniffed bored, as she started to get used to his rudeness, of the fact that he wasn't the type to care about whether he'd meddle in other people's business or not.

She saw that he had passed the period of her birth, as a new-born baby, with pictures of her mother holding her, or her sister smiling joyfully for having a new younger sister.

She sat next to him on the floor and grabbed another picture, which resembled herself with her mother and her sister at the zoo. She had held a small panda bear in her arms. She was 10.

Her mind remembered those happy times. She watched Gaara, as he really seemed interested by doing what he was doing. His face didn't say much, but he probably thought of a lot of things when seeing her so young, younger than she was now and probably happier than she was now.

At one point, he stopped and said:

'Where's your father?'

'W-what?!' she asked as usual, but this time, he sensed a bit of trembling. He turned his jade look upon her eyes:

'Where's your father?'

'Oh… w-well… I don't have a father…'

She sniffed:

'I mean I did, but he's, a… he's not there…'

She got up on her feet, as she grabbed another picture, this time from deep under the others, as she knew it was there. She studied it pretty long, until she decided to give it to Gaara:

'This is my father'

Gaara received the picture. He slightly startled. It wasn't a picture as the others. It faced a little girl which he recognized as being Reikami, when she was 12 years old. She had the kind of look on her face that something didn't please her at all. The man next to her was watching the camera stiff, like he was in the army. He held his daughter's hand firmly, like he didn't wish to let her go. Much of his fox-like eyes resembled Reikami's actual face.

The picture transmitted some unpleasant feelings, since the little girl's face was resting on the ground sadly, and the man's face was extremely severe.

She muttered:

'The reason why you hadn't seen him in any of those pictures was that he was never there, most of the times…'

She was about to sit on the bed, when she added softer:

'He, a… he left us when I was 13…'

She rushed outside her room, after that. He heard the bathroom door slammed. It was quiet after that.

Gaara somewhat felt guilty of asking about her father. It wasn't to anyone's knowledge that her gesture might be taken as a result of her sudden spiritual collapse at the remembrance of her father.

Still, he understood that and he got up. He gathered all the pictures in the same way he had gotten them out and afterwards took a seat back on the floor, waiting for her coming back.

15 minutes later, Reikami entered the room. Her face was washed up and she tried to grin stupidly, as to give him the satisfaction that she was ok. She was carrying two mugs of something hot:

'I brought some tea.'

She put the mugs on the table, next to the box and afterwards threw herself on the bed, tired:

'Ah… what the hell am I going to wear…?'

He got up from his spot and approached her. He swiftly grabbed her left wrist and without her having the slightest idea what he was doing, he dragged her to his chest and held her tight, as he stood quiet. The sudden embrace made her tremble with confusion.

"_Why is he hugging me all of a sudden? He knows I hate when he does that!"_

'You're alright now' he mumbled coldly, after a few minutes of quietness.

"_Is he trying to apologize? This is his way of apologizing?"_

'Y-yeah…' she muttered softly. Somehow, she didn't mind the sudden embrace that much.

When she had turned her look at him, she suddenly startled frightened, as her nose rather hit the tip of his nose. His eyes were sharpened, as usual and he didn't' seem to mind the intimate gesture. Instead, she wasn't exactly feeling comfortable with her heart beating so wildly because of his embrace and his jaded gaze fixed upon her so intimately.

She gathered her palms at his chest and slightly pushed herself against him, to set herself free, as she whispered:

'Y-you can let go now… I'm… I'm fine n-now…'

'I know.'

His precise answer, so impassible and his absent face made her look once more into his eyes. He seemed serious about holding her like that, so close one to each other.

She sniffed shyly and turned her look away, as she muttered again:

'Be a good boy and let go, now… mom's going to come in and I don't want her to get the wrong impression… be a good…'

She stopped. Her look set upon his, as his lips approached hers softly. She suddenly felt like fading. The gap in her stomach had widened itself considerably and it was somehow annoying her. His lips almost touched hers…

'Hey, there, people!'

Mugen spoiled all that was left of the moment, the minute he bumped in the room.

She caught the moment and pushed Gaara away so she was set loose. He gazed at her rather disapprovingly, but then took a seat on the bed.

'Were you guys in one of those moments, or something?' Mugen asked slightly confused.

'N-no' she answered. 'W-we were rehearsing.'

Her eyes swiftly avoided the redhead's jade stare.

'Aha' Mugen muttered. 'Well, your mom let me in. I guess she got used to me' he laughed. 'Are you guys doing something special together? Is everything working nicely?'

'Y-yeah... .' Reikami muttered softly. 'Um, I can't be doing anything today really. I promised my mom we'd look up for our dresses, so…'

'Aha' Mugen sniffed again. 'Well, at least I came here to pick Gaara up. Are you coming, man? I promised to teach you driving.'

He smiled pleasantly, unaware of the fact that something weird was about to happen before he had come inside the room.

Gaara watched her, as if he expected her to say something. She didn't. She just grabbed her tea-mug and went out of the room, saying:

'You do as you please…'

There were a few minutes of silence, during which none of the two boys said anything. Afterwards, Mugen bumped confusingly:

'A, did anything happen to you guys?'

Gaara didn't answer quickly. He was still staring at the door, through which she had went a few minutes ago.

Late that afternoon, Reikami returned from shopping with her mom, much more joyful than before and quite glad of she had bought.

She placed all of them in her room and when she descended the stairs back, to get herself an apple, the door rang again. She told her mom that she will have to pick it up.

She opened the door joyfully, as she laughed suddenly. Instantly, the moment she opened the door widely, he joyance stopped swiftly. She stood shocked in front of the doorway.

'Hi, there, Reikami…'

Gaara was returning from the place he had been spending with Mugen, in the evening. The sun was still sparkling, even thought he was about to sink in a clearly red light.

The air was still a bit hot, but he didn't mind. He was just returning home. At one point, he met the street which would easily take him to her house.

He suddenly remembered what he was about to do before Mugen bumped in that instant. He was about to kiss her. He had felt like doing something like that to her for some time now. Not exactly a kiss, but something intimate, just so he could get to know her better. Now, he understood a bit of her way of being, he somehow felt sorry. It wasn't the kind of "sorry" that a man had for someone's misfortune. It was the kind of "sorry" which he usually bared for those who were cold-hearted and defying like him. She seemed to have reflected his way of being like a mirror. Now, remembering her weird brownish gaze, he sort of compared it to other girls' stares. She was surely something for him, since his body swiftly turned to the street which led to her house.

He walked through the quiet streets. Suddenly, he saw her house had its windows lighten up. It wasn't too late in the evening, but he felt he had picked a bad timing.

As he approached the doorframe, he heard some screams from inside the house and a man's voice.

He recognized her mother's voice. She must have been angry, since she was the one with the raised tone:

'You better get out of here this instant, Miro! I'm not going to hold back on this, now!'

'Now, listen to me, Kumiyo, please… this is getting way out of hand, you know…'

'You left me with two children, Miro! Two children! How dare you come back here and easily say that everything will be getting back to the way it was?! Do you even include the times when you used to molest them, you damn bastard! Are you going to include that too?!'

'Kumiyo, calm down, please! Let's settle this down…!'

Gaara let them fight some more, as he circled the house, to face Reikami's window, at her room. As he had predicted, she was staring at the stars, with the window wide open, and listening to some music at her mp3 player. At one point, she put her head on her arms but startled, when seeing him staring at her.

'G-Gaara-kun!' she bumped surprised. 'What are you doing here?'

'Your father came back, right?'

His question was put with the same cold-hearted tone, still she sensed a sort of tenderness into it.

'Y-yeah' she muttered sadly. 'You know, you didn't have to come here, since I told you I'm not going to pay you extra for visiting my house. I'm sticking to 100 bucks, you know' she added, much more normal.

'Come down' he said.

'What?!' she asked, with her usual tone of voice for this question.

'Come down' he repeated, impassibly.

She sniffed bored and then, put away her mp3 player. She tried to climb down her window and it was a good thing that her room wasn't at the first floor. She jumped on the ground, with a deaf sound.

When Gaara approached her, he saw that she had been crying until he had come. Her eyes were rather red and sleepy, as a result of her tears.

'What is it? Why have you come here?' she asked, hesitating to watch him.

He didn't answer, so she added:

'I hope you came to apologize for the fact that you were about to kiss me earlier, which wasn't such a polite thing to do.'

'No' he answered sharply and she startled annoyed:

'What do you mean "no", you jerk?! You're supposed to do that! It wasn't included as planned, you know! Apologize!'

She seemed very demanding.

'No' he again repeated his answer, impassibly.

She gathered her arms at her chest:

'Fine, then, be a bastard! I don't care! I'm sick of caring. Nobody cares about me, except my mom and my sister!'

She turned her back against him, but only not to let him see her newest tears. She wasn't going to leave, because deep inside her she was thankful to him for coming, even at a bad moment like this.

Suddenly, she felt two strong arms surrounding her in a stupid embrace, just like the first time he had hugged her.

'I care about you…' he muttered, and she sensed a sort of tenderness into his voice.

She started to cry, as she covered his hands with hers in a gesture of thankfulness. The tears didn't last too long. She lifted her head and watched the void decided not to let her emotions go.

She turned and took his face into her palms and kissed him on the cheek:

'Thank you'

She hugged him again, this time as a normal embrace.

They stood like that entwined for a few minutes. Afterwards, she tried to part from him, but again felt his firm grip refusing her to do so.

She turned her gaze upon his with fear, as she once more delicately hit her nose of his. His eyes were watching her fearsomely, but it wasn't with a bad intention. That's how his usual gaze looked most of the times.

Again that stupid gap in her stomach, mixed with his defying look… it was rather annoying her, because she hated people who looked up to her.

'Y-you like defying me, don't you…?' she asked shyly.

She let her head down, as she dragged both her arms at his chest to slightly push herself away from him.

She felt his jaded eyes watching her firmly, like he was about to punish her for being disobedient with him.

'Yes, I do…' he answered sharply.

'Let me go…'

'Why should I?'

Her look turned to him annoyed:

'Why should you?! What kind of question is that?! I already told you a thousand times I hate certain men's touching, let me go! You always meddle into my things and you defy me, and you make me feel so insignificant and dumb! I hate you! Let me go!'

'You make me follow you wherever you go'

His rather shocking confession angered her even more:

'I don't care, you insensitive person! Let me be, I want to be alone! Let me go! I hate you!!'

She struggled in vain, because he had a strong grip and all she had resulted was to bruise herself, by trying to fight him away.

'Tigress…' he mumbled.

Her stare set upon him again and she went more furious:

'T-tigress?! I told you I hate nicknames! I'll show you what a tigress I am, you little…!'

'I had thought of calling you fox, you do resemble your father's fox-like features. But it wouldn't suit you'

She watched him surprised, as she sensed a short smirk, like a smile on his mouth.

'You jerk!' she bumped, hitting his chest with her palms.

'You can forget about those 100 $'' he added impassibly. 'You're mine now, tigress…'

'I'm not yours, you jerk, I'm not! Gaara, let me go right now!'

'No, I don't want to…'

'Why not?' she asked, tired.

He watched her intensely and defying, as she determined her eyes to stop watching him equally. He swiftly lifted her cheek with the tip of his finger:

'Because you're mine now… I care about you, tigress…'

He approached her mouth and touched her lips delicately, as to see whether she'd accept his intimate gesture or not. She simply startled visibly and her entire body trembled frightened of what he was about to do. But other than that, she didn't seem to reject him. So, he pushed his lips against hers with severity, since the feeling he had held up inside up until now had been burning him. He dragged his tongue into her inside and played with hers for a while, before feeling that she had finally decided to tag along with him in this intimate game.

Her arms delicately sat upon his shoulders and embraced his neck with rather hesitation, since she had never been kissed before and didn't actually know what to do.

She rapidly thought something had to happen just now. Maybe her sister would see them. Or maybe Mugen would come out of the bushes… then, again nothing could happen and this moment was totally hers.

The kiss lasted only for a few minutes, afterwards his mouth parted from hers and opened his eyes to see her follow his example only slower.

She watched him shortly, after that let her look down, smiling shyly and blushing.

'I see' she muttered. 'So now, you proclaim me your possession? And is kissing me your way of defying me now? Oh, dear, you should train more, you know'

He approached her lips again, as a gesture of "Fine, I'll train on you", but she stopped his lips, with the tips of her fingers:

'Don't get so hasty… we still have a lot to know about each other, you know. The wedding's this time next week.'

She didn't mind any more his arms holding her waist firmly. He sensed that. He loosened her up and added:

'Let's go for a walk, tigress…'

'Stop with the tigress thing, or I'll really punch you.'

He sniffed:

'Hn…'

'You know' she added, after a while, after they had persuaded into the night-walk together, 'I think everything will be alright somehow. But don't think I'll be holding back from anything that will happen between us. I intend not to change myself for you'

'I don't even expect that' he muttered and she smiled, giggling secretly. Afterwards, their hands entwined and they continued their night-walk alone, leaving her house behind.

She started asking him several questions which a part of the answers she already knew how they might be with "hn" or sharp precise sentences. She didn't mind it anymore. She didn't mind anything at all in him right now.


End file.
